To ensure that your work gets the attention of the right audience, you will need to increase the visibility of the research. With an increasing number of papers published in journals annually, it can be difficult to make your work heard in the cacophony of other research. One impactful way to ensure that your work gets noticed by the relevant audience is by submitting it to a conference. It is a primary way to spread your work to other researchers in the field and create potential collaborative opportunities. Submitting a conference paper is different from submitting a published article, so we will delve into how they differ and how you can submit a successful conference paper (PhD Student, 2020).
Attending conferences is especially important if you are a PhD student. Conferences will give you the opportunity to network with professionals in the field and receive feedback about your own research. Getting your research published in conference details is also a great addition to your CV. By now, you might be asking yourself what the difference is between a paper submitted to a journal and a conference. The main difference is that while a paper made for submission to a journal is detailed, a conference paper is short and concise. If the conference has a revision process, it is generally briefer than the journal process, and the approval process is much shorter than a journal paper submission. Reviewing previous proposals will be helpful in giving you an idea of what a successful conference paper looks like and includes. Although your conference paper is usually limited to the purposes of the conference proceedings, you might be invited to publish in a research journal if your work is seen as exceptional. In fact, journals often find papers submitted to conferences better equipped as they have already been reviewed and edited and are seen as being specifically befitting to that field of study. Therefore, a conference paper might be submitted as a manuscript to a journal as part of the conference; however, the conference paper is typically not submitted unedited if it is not part of the conference proceedings publication in a research journal (PhD Student, 2020).
(Read about predatory conferences here.)
There are also many academic benefits that come with submitting your paper to a conference. For one, submitting your proposal to a conference provides you with early feedback on your work before submitting it to a journal. Conferences give you many avenues to receive feedback, such as the selection committee for the conference, presentation questions, and post-event discussion. Conferences are also beneficial to the academic community because they provide a forum for global collaboration that benefits scientific progress (AIS, 2021).
Find Conferences Calling for Paper Submissions
Not all conferences are actively looking for conference paper submissions and finding these conferences may not always be easy. You can use search engines, websites, or professional academic organizations to look for conferences seeking paper submissions. To make sure that the conference is relevant to your work, you would want to look specifically for a conference topic within your field or area of research, the location of the conference, and several other factors that may hinder your ability to participate in the conference. Most organizations have instructions on how to submit a paper laid out on their website. Pay attention to the specific details mentioned in the instructions, as they will include requirements for submitting your proposal, such as formatting and word limits (PhD Student, 2020).
Most conference proposal requirements are similar in length, with abstracts being about 350 words or less. Submitting your proposal is generally done electronically. It is recommended that you attach any supporting documents, especially if the conference organizer laid out their necessity. Include your email address and phone number to ensure that the organizers are able to reach you, if needed (PhD Student, 2020).
Writing the Proposal
Before starting to write anything, it is helpful to remember that the proposal is going to be a stand-alone document. It will explain your research in its entirety, and you cannot refer to other parts of the paper that are not mentioned in the proposal. The proposal, as the name would suggest, is a proposal to showcase your work and paper at a conference. The audience you would aim to impress with your proposal is very specific, as it only includes the selection committee for the conference where you plan on presenting. In your proposal there are some key points you want to address (PhD Student, 2020).
Finalize and Submit Proposal
As mentioned above, presentation proposals are generally similar to abstracts in length, even though this might be slightly different from one conference to another. If you plan on submitting your proposal to multiple conferences, you might need to adjust each proposal to fit the requirements laid out by the conference organizers. After finalizing the proposal, you can finally go through with the exciting part: submitting the proposal. As mentioned, make sure that all your information is up to date as you will probably be contacted by email (PhD Student, 2020).
Present Your Paper
Your field of work will likely determine what your presentation is going to look like. You may use a script to help guide you through the presentation or use visual aids like PowerPoint presentations or other forms of media, such as posters. You will need to design and finalize your presentation ahead of time to make sure that it is tailored towards any specific guidelines set by the conference organizers. It is also important to train for the presentation to ensure that you do not go over the allotted time given to you by the conference (PhD Student, 2020).
(Read more about the importance of an outstanding research profile.)
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REFERENCES
- AIS. (2021). The benefits of submitting conference papers. Association for Information Systems. https://aisnet.org/news/550523/The-Benefits-of-Submitting-Conference-Papers.htm
- PhD Student. (2020). How to submit papers to conferences. PhDStudent. https://www.phdstudent.com/surviving-grad-school/keys-to-graduate-success/how-to-submit-papers-to-conferences/